Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has setback in battle with pancreatic cancer, resumes chemotherapy

(CBS 58) -- Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek says he's had a setback in his battle with pancreatic cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy again. 

Trebek said in a recent interview on Good Morning America that after a short period of optimism when he stopped chemo, his "numbers shot up," and doctors ordered him back on the treatment. 

The 79-year-old game show host announced in March he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but he hasn't missed a day on the show, which tapes its episodes in advance. 

Trebek said his goals for the summer were to get his strength and hair back and his progress on both fronts was dismal. 

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in Milwaukee says situations like Trebek's are all too frequent. 

It's not unusual for a patient with pancreatic cancer to go into remission and then it comes back. They say that's why more funding for pancreatic cancer research is so necessary.

"So the more funding that we get, the more research that we can do, and hopefully we'll come up with early diagnostic tests and eventually a cure," said Steve Lipshetz of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

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